Sorry I’ve been quiet this week—going to the office early and coming home really late has taken a toll on blogging time. I’ve been putting in the long hours because I’m about to head out of town again and need to get everything off my desk before I go. Next week I leave for my first trip to Southeast Asia (hey, I’m exhausted now, but I’ll have plenty of time to rest during the ass-numbing 16 1/2 hour flight). I’ll be spending five work-related days in Manila, which I’m excited about, but I’m even more stoked for my two and a half day layover in Hong Kong, a city I’ve always wanted to visit. If you have any recommendations of must-do, must-eat, must-see things in either city, I would love to hear about them (especially the must-eats).

@Mackey: Not to worry, I am definitely looking forward to all the crab, especially xiao long bao, which are soup dumplings made with crab and pork. In defiance of kosher laws, I eat everything! Except balut. (Which is technically kosher, albeit gross.)

You must have dimsum, but I would go with a local if at all possible.. Probably City Hall is the most traditional style, but it’s also the most obvious choice.

Seafood! Have British tea at one of the hotels. Go to Shek O, which is a beach on the southeast side of the island. It’s pretty deserted and really beautiful.. total hidden gem.

The surrounding islands (the train that you take from the airport passes a couple) are really nice to hike.

HK is really about the shopping (watch out for pickpockets), the area in Kowloon with all the birds and fishes can be an interesting site. You can get cheap electronics and oo a coool iphone cover, that looks like an old game boy, or one with faux wood grain, or etc etc.. ALWAYS BARGAIN, they will probably try to gouge you, so cut their price by at least 2/3rds and maybe settle for 1/2 price.

You absolutely MUST go to Yung Kee; it’s this famous fabulous smoked duck place, (pricey bu worth it) pretty much an institution in HK. I know a friend in Singapore who used to go there for a meal right before she would leave to go back to singapore, and bring another duck back on the plane…

The Kowloon area is not that safe in the evening, but as a rule, HK Island is much safer and cleaner.

Western food tends to be very good in HK, last time my friend took me to a Spanish tapas place that was not bad. But I imagine you want Asian food while you are in Asia?

Get an octopus card as soon as you can. You can use it almost everywhere, subway, grocery store etc etc. Tis’ amazing.

Everybody knows Yung Kee, just ask a random person on the street, and they can probably tell you where it is.

You should go on the tram (to see the view of HK), but don’t do the escalator, unless you really are using it to get somewhere.

I know they have these stores in NYC, but I always always hit up UNIQLO and MUJI when I’m in Asia. UNIQLO is Japanese GAP, and they have jeans that are AWESOME. Lots of basics in all sorts of different colors, and most of my wardrobe is from there.

Oh! And I didn’t mean to be dismissive of City Hall (restaurant), it’s supposed to be quite good; I just haven’t been, so I can’t vouch for it.

OH! And egg custard tarts (in Mandarin = 蛋塔 dan4ta3) are yum yum. The good ones are really flakey, delicious, and probably made with pig oil, but SO So good, and if you aren’t keeping kosher, you must try it.

Becky, seriously, try as many of the fun and strange desserts on offer in HK as you can!
Hong Kong is also the area of China that other Chinese (especially northerners) make fun of as the “will eat anything remotely edible” region, so you will probably see all the weird shit like scorpions-on-a-stick and ants and all that! I’m not saying you have to try it, but enjoy the atmosphere! Have fun!!!